Omicron a 'deviant' from Covid pandemic progression script: Virologist T Jacob

Omicron is a "deviant" from the COVID-19 pandemic progression script and so it must be postulated that two pandemics are going on side by side, one by the Delta and close relatives and the other by the latest variant of concern, said noted virologist Dr T Jacob John.

Speaking to PTI on how the pandemic can now be expected to progress, he pointed out that Omicron is not "fathered, or mothered, by Wuhan-D614G, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Kappa or Mu and That much is for sure".

"So in my opinion, this is a variant of unknown proximal parentage but great great grandparent was Wuhan-D614G... We shall see as the pandemic progresses," John, a former director of the ICMR's Centre of Advanced Research in Virology, said.